This briefing document discusses the engineering perspective and role of engineers in the responsible sourcing of minerals and metals for manufacturing consumer goods and industrial products. As engineers largely develop the technical solution, generating the bill of materials and thus selecting materials and production processes, their impact on RS should not be underestimated. The decision of which raw materials are used, whether these raw material can be potentially sourced while fulfilling RS criteria, and how sustainable the supply chain for a product will be, is to a large extent already defined at the design and development stage of a new product.

Este reporte describe la situación actual y el desarrollo de las cadenas de suministro de recursos minerales sustentables y los enfoques de abastecimiento responsable en el sector minero de América Latina, con especial atención a Chile. El documento describe la aplicación de diversas iniciativas internacionales, estrategias gubernamentales regionales y ejemplos de buenas prácticas de empresas del sector minero del cobre y el litio.

This briefing document outlines the current status and development of sustainable mineral supply chains and approaches to responsible sourcing in the mining sector in Latin America, with a particular focus on Chile. The paper outlines the implementation of various international initiatives, regional government strategies, and best practice examples of companies in the copper and lithium mining sector.

Electronics is one of the largest and fastest-growing industries of the world. It is however associated to social and environmental risks on responsible sourcing. This State of play and roadmap concepts for the electronics sector focuses on three segments of the supply chain: mining companies, manufacturers (both contract and component manufacturers), and brands. The material focus of this State of Play report is on 3TG minerals (tin, tungsten, tantalum, and gold) and mica.

The Good Practice Guidelines on Responsible Sourcing (RS) in the Renewable Energy Sector outline key practices distilled from the RE-SOURCING Project’s research and consultations on the Renewable Energy (RE) Sector. As a means to promote peer learning and increase the uptake of RS practices, this document is of relevance to all actors involved in the RE Sector, in the EU as well as internationally. Four good practice guidelines are elaborated in this document, with case studies to show how they have been implemented.

This Roadmap for the Renewable Energy Sector by the RE-SOURCING project focuses on the road towards achieving a sustainable energy transition by 2050. Five key targets are addressed in the roadmap: Circular Economy & Decreased Resource Consumption, Paris Agreement & Environmental Sustainability, Social Sustainability & Responsible Production, Responsible Procurement, and Level Playing Field. For all five targets recommendations to policy makers, industry and civil society are discussed. The RE-SOURCING projects ‘Vision 2050’ for the renewable energy sector based on the concepts of planetary boundaries and strong sustainability describes the ultimate goal to be achieved with the roadmap.

The Opening Conference ‘Drivers of Responsible Sourcing’ focused on four essential aspects for moving towards the responsible sourcing of raw minerals: Advocacy & Awareness; Industry Frontrunners & Business Alliances; Regulations & Standards; and Investment & Stock and Commodity Markets. This conference report summarises the main points that were brought forward during the six sessions of the conference, including keynote speeches and panel discussions. You can also find more information and detailed summaries of the individual topics in the RE-SOURCING Briefing Documents 5-8.

This Briefing Document details the discussions in the ‘Regulations & Standards’ session at the opening conference of the RE-SOURCING Project (18-19 January 2021). The discussion focuseson the key ingredients required for constructing an effective standard and its interplay with global benchmarks and regulations. A balance between the objectives of the multiple stakeholders needs to be maintained, as a well as between the needs for consultation and taking immediate actions. Good standards incorporate a vigorous standard setting process, measurable implementation strategies and transparency in trade-offs.

The general strategy of the RE-SOURCING project for identifying and engaging with international stakeholders is explained in this report. One of the key objectives of the project is to engage with key international stakeholders to foster the application of the responsible sourcing concept in global agenda setting.

This Briefing Document details the discussions in the ‘Advocacy and Awareness Building’ session at the opening conference of the RE-SOURCING Project (18-19 January 2021). The discussion focuses on three important challenges of Responsible Sourcing in relation to its social aspect: How do we ensure that the voices of the most vulnerable groups are heard, find mechanisms that address their concerns, and ensure these voices are part of the decision-making process.

This Briefing Document details the discussions in the session ‘Industry Frontrunners & Business Alliances’ at the opening conference of the RE-SOURCING Project: ‘Drivers of Responsible Sourcing – Common Ground, Collective Action, Lasting Change’ (18-19 January 2021). The discussion focuses on the key factors for a successful alliance that can support Responsible Sourcing. Successful alliances need to have clear objectivesand balance the need for consultation with the need for action. Their governance structures need to be transparent, and they must clearly articulate the trade-offs their decisions entail.

The state of play report (D4.2) for the mobility sector covers the value chain of the key component of the electric mobility, the lithium-ion battery. Focusing on mining of resources, production of battery cells and their recycling at the end, it looks into the responsible sourcing of the key materials lithium, cobalt, nickel and graphite, the key issues of the production of electrodes and their assembly to a battery cell and the various technologies of recycling of batteries and thereby shedding light on the involved stakeholders, initiatives and standards. The aim of the report is to determine topics the RE-SOURCING project needs to address in its roadmap for the mobility sector.

This Briefing Document details the discussions in the ‘Investment, Stock & Commodity Markets’ session at the opening conference of the RE-SOURCING Project: ‘Drivers of Responsible Sourcing – Common Ground, Collective Action, Lasting Change’ (18-19 January 2021). Even though the financial sector is learning to leverage its financial power through direct engagement and greater sustainability reporting requirements from companies, challenges remain. It is also important for policy stakeholders and civil society to understand the diversity within this sector and how to engage with these actors.

This Briefing Document summarizes key points of the RE-SOURCING Project report ‘Responsible Sourcing in the Renewable Energy Supply Chain: A reality or still a long way to go? (Apr 2021). The document reviews the state-of-play within the renewable energy sector (PV and wind energy) identifying the main actors, standards and challenges across the value chain. It outlines major hurdles that will need to be addressed to support greater uptake of Responsible Sourcing practices by firms and includes the outline for a 2050 Vision for the sector.

This report outlines the conceptual basis for the RE-SOURCING good practice learning1 and peer learning actions. Against this background, the report addresses questions of elaboration procedures, roles and responsibilities, and academic as well as practitioner background on these concepts. It will serve as a guide for project partners.

This Briefing Document explains the narrative behind the opening conference of the RE-SOURCING Project: Drivers of Responsible Sourcing (18-19 January 2021). In this document, the project team shares its understanding of the drivers impacting the implementation of Responsible Sourcing approaches and the role played by the main actors; to better understand the path RS approaches need to converge on and chart for the future in a bid to achieve a level playing field across mineral value chains.

This Briefing Document summarizes the RE-SOURCING Project’s Virtual Event (October 2020) on the topic of ‘Disruptions to supply chain – RS & The Green Deal’. The three experts discuss the challenges in Responsible Sourcing and proposes policy interventions to support mining companies in meeting the expected increase in mineral demand for the manufacturing of green technologies.

The state of play report (D4.1) for the renewable energy sector is a stock taking of the supply chain for the renewable energy technologies wind & solar power. It focuses on the following supply chain stages: mining and processing of copper, rare earth elements, and quartz;manufacturing of wind turbines and solar PV, and their collection and treatment. The aim of the report is to determine topics the RE-SOURCING project needs to address in its roadmap for the renewable energy sector.

The report outlines technical information on the RE-SOURCING Platform & webpage, which are used to identify, manage and engage with stakeholders through a digital exchange processes. It aims to combine interactive communication as well as knowledge provision tools on one integrated platform. The RE-SOURCING Platform provides opportunities to have the necessary information on responsible sourcing topics in one place.

This Briefing Document summarises the increasing Responsible Souring (RS) requirements for businesses in mineral and metals supply chains. It considers the four stages of business engagement with RS practices and outlines reasons behind these practicesbeing a key factor for firms to maintain and expand their operations in the future.

This report provides an overview of the current state of responsible sourcing practices related to the extraction of minerals and their processing. It outlines the challenges that have been identified in the economic, social and environmental spheres and analysis how current RS approaches are attempting to address these.

This document defines all aspects related to the collaboration approach of the RE-SOURCING project and its Advisory Board and, thus, provides guidance on the Advisory Board’s purpose, setup, tasks, and responsibilities.

The inception report “The RE-SOURCING Common Approach” describes the project approach to responsible sourcing, project priorities & activities, stakeholder engagement and outlines the project scope and topical areas.

This report aims to provide a centralised approach for managing the stakeholder’s data and engagement, and to define rules and respon-sibilities for project partners on how to communicate and engage with the external stakeholders. The main objective of the RE-SOURCING project is to set up an international platform on responsible sourcing that would provide physical and digital tools for connecting experts and stakeholders. Due to the key role of external stakeholders in implementing the project, a centralized approach to map and structure stakeholders, and manage their data, are defined and explained in this report.

The RE-SOURCING Platform Steering Committee constitutes of high-level experts and stakeholders to support advocacy and agenda setting for Responsible Sourcing (RS) in the Renewable Energy, Mobility and Electronics & Electrical Equipment sectors. The main tasks of the PSC will be co-developing sector specific roadmaps and fostering their uptake and dissemination to stakeholders along global mineral value chains.

This document presents the RE-SOURCING Communication Plan. It serves as the guideline for communication and dissemination activities within the project, by defining key messages, target audiences and methods of communication.